Students now have access to Canvas, three days after a cyberattack shut down the learning management system.
Ron Gerhard, chancellor of the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District, announced via email on May 11 that students could return to Canvas. A deal was reached between ShinyHunters, the hackers behind the attack, and Instructure, the parent company of Canvas. In a statement on its website, Instructure “reached an agreement with the unauthorized actor involved in this incident.”
As part of the agreement, ShinyHunters returned the data to Instructure, destroyed the data they had and confirmed that no one would be extorted as a result of the incident. Instructure also announced in the statement that the company will hold a webinar with Instructure leadership about how to improve security.
In the early afternoon of May 7, ShinyHunters claimed credit for the shutdown of Canvas, leaving students and professors nationwide unable to access any assignments. The District responded quickly, urging students to stay off Canvas while the IT department attempted to fix the issue. Professors were told to email students directly instead of communicating through Canvas.
On May 8, access was restored, but CLPCCD warned students against using Canvas “out of an abundance of caution.” Despite having access to Canvas, LPC students and professors couldn’t work on assignments or grading over the weekend.
When the district announced Canvas was safe to use again, it also addressed why students and professors were warned against using Canvas for two days. Per the email, they “made a deliberate decision to allow additional time to verify platform security and stability.”
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TOP PHOTO: Canvas has been restored, but the campus and the District are on alert after the cyberattack on Thursday.
Nuha Maflahi is the Campus Life Editor for The Express. Follow her on X @NuhaMaflahiLPC.
